If You Give UP After You’ve Started You Let Yourself Down Because Budgets Work
It doesn’t matter where you live or whether you have a cool job everything can be wiped out as it has for many Canadians during Covid-19.
I really do hope it was an eye-opener for those workers sent home because they couldn’t keep running.
If anything there is things you must do to save and spend money wisely.
- Start using a budget
- Set money aside by spending less
- Plan for the worst with a Plan B.
- Find a second job if possible
The year 2021 is a time to buckle down and make sure you spend money wisely.
We should all be worried that the boss will walk in with the pink slip and wishes you luck.
This is why I’ve always worked on other money sources including my budget biner
I hear it all the time from people that they want to be debt-free but how many use a budget and spend money wisely?
If your answers are no to both of those you are letting your emotions do the shopping and not the money manager, you.
Why People Don’t Use A Budget
Either you don’t want to know and live blindly about personal finance or you’re too lazy to find 15 minutes a day to keep a roof over your head and food on the table.
If for example, you’re not able to use a budget see if someone in the family can help you or an accountant and financial advisor.
To be fair we are managing my mother-in-law’s money while she is in long-term-care.
Already she’s spent a fortune on her teeth but it will be best for her.
Now that we’ve been through the process I can tell you that you need cash to live your life in retirement facilities in Canada.
If you have no family to look for you perhaps talk to your financial accountant.
Adding credit doesn’t mean the money monster will clear your debt, you have to or consider bankruptcy or consolidation.
From our experience with credit cards and paying bills, we’ve only had 1 incident of not paying property taxes.
It was our first income tax bill and that scared us enough to start budgeting because paying interest SUCKS BIG TIME.
Find Out If You’re A Wise Spender Or Not
Below are a few questions I put together for you to answer and ask yourself how important they are to you.
There are no wrong or right answers here because it’s meant to be about money awareness and an eyeopener.
As the New Year begins I’m trying to encourage people to learn how to spend money wisely.
Consumer overspending is easy to even if you are at home surfing the web because you’re bored.
Going to the mall just to look around is like walking into a pit of melted Lindor chocolates.
You get a taste for something and you want more and more.
If you walk out with nothing you’re being a person who is spending money wisely.
Are You Spending Money Wisely Quiz
Let’s have a look at the questions and comment below how many yes and no you received.
I want to know how many of you plan to spend money wisely in the New Year.
What other questions should we add to the list? I might turn it into a quiz on the blog.
- Do you use a budget? Yes or No
- When shopping do you always get the receipt? Yes or No
- Do you save money before you buy or use credit? Yes or No
- Are you debt-free? Yes or No
- Do you continue to increase your debt? Yes or No
- If I asked you about your net worth and debt could you tell me what it is? Yes or No
- Will a monthly budget help to increase your money management awareness? Yes or No
- Do you want to get out of debt? Yes or No
- Is there someone you can talk to about financial management? Yes or No
- Are you embarrassed to talk to someone about your debt? Yes or No
- Are you investing in retirement savings? Yes or No
- If you have children are you maxing out their Registered Education Plan?
- Do you have an Emergency Fund you add to monthly? Yes or No
- Are you paying your loans and credit card bills in full? Yes or No
- Do you track expenses that you only pay a few times a year and save for it? I call these projected expenses. Yes or No.
- Is there a quiet place in your home where you can complete your budget? Yes or No
Ways To Start Spending Money Wisely
For beginners using a budget, I find that it’s most important to use baby steps or they quit.
At the start of 2020, I had over 20 people wanting to join my monthly Budget Challenge.
Today we are left with only 2 out of that group which tells me that money management isn’t being taken seriously.
No matter what job you have or if you have kids and grandparents living with you a budget is a must.
I don’t care if you tell me you don’t have time because you MUST find that time if you want a roof over your head.
Spending money wisely means you are in sync with your money and know what you can and cannot afford.
If you are the consumer who windows shops and you convince yourself to buy something that’s not spending money wisely
My two cents on the topic of spending wisely is cutting out stuff you don’t need and read my 10-Step- Mini-Series for budgeting.
It’s helped many readers of CBB who come back to thank me for a budget that makes sense to them.
If you need more money find odd jobs to do by searching Kijiji, Talize, Church, Value Village, or the Re-Store.
One thing you may not know about us is that we almost 80% furnished our home from Value Village.
Always check these stores first before you make a retail purchase because were certainly lucky.
Happy reading and we’ll see you back in the New Year 2021.
Based on the quiz if you can share what areas you want to improve on in 2022.
Leave your comments below.
Mr.CBB
Net Worth Gains and Losses
What happened to our money in November
Hi CBB,
Our worth months for 2020 were in March and April once Covid-19 took over the world.
As you can see from our net worth progression chart below we’ve been consistently increasing our net worth.
At this point, we are still young and our money has time to grow but we consider our home not part of it.
Although down the road if we had to sell and move to a retirement home or long-term care the home will be a great asset.
However, if we are going to stay in our home until the end it’s better to use your investment cash flow when you retire.
You could also sell your house and downsize to cash in on some equity.
We plan to move one more time or build a house when we save up more money
As I mentioned in our November Budget Update we had lots of expenses such as new tires for our truck and two crowns for Mrs. CBB who is now getting Invisalign.
I’m interested to see how our 2020 year ends which will be posted in January 2021.
How was your net worth for November? Did it increase or decrease and why?
Leave me your comments below.
Mr.CBB
Understanding Net Worth
What Does Individual Net Worth Mean?
Net Worth is a snapshot of your financial health sort of like a picture or debt to net assets.
In simple terms, it’s a total of the value of your assets minus your liabilities.
We credit the growth of our net worth due to patience, perseverance, using a monthly budget, and not giving up.
Your numbers may go up and down but don’t let the numbers scare you rather understand why and move on.
If you would like to use our budget I offer a FREE downloadable budget that I created and that you can use.
I don’t charge for it because I want you to save money not spend more!
There are tonnes of other free resources at Canadian Budget Binder to help you build your net worth.
Calculate Your Net Worth
Do you know how to calculate your own Net Worth?
We like to calculate our net worth every month so we know if we are still on track.
Some people calculate it yearly or quarterly but it’s up to you and how informed you want to stay.
Net Worth is only an estimate and not everyone uses the same type of figures to tally it up.
Some of you may not include vehicles like we do or leave out assets inside the home as we have.
You might be that person that believes that your house should be excluded.
It depends on what you want to calculate or what you can sell today and make money for tomorrow.
Figuring out net worth is fairly easy as long as you know your monthly financial numbers.
Net Worth is adding up all your assets (what you own) then taking away your liabilities (what you owe) which will give you a net worth number.
Understanding your net worth will help you determine if you are on track to meet or beat your personal financial goals.
It doesn’t get any easier than that.
Determining Your Net Worth
Net Worth = Assets – Liabilities
Why not go ahead and calculate your own using our Free Money saving Tool Net worth Calculator (Canadian Budget Binder 2012)
Financial Numbers
When budgeting anything is possible, we are proof of that although we still have a long way to go in our journey.
These are our numbers and our goals, not a means of comparison towards your own goals to others’ target goals.
We don’t care how much money others earn or if they have a high net worth or if it is lower than ours as it’s not a competition.
I hope our experiences will help guide you along your financial path working towards debt freedom.
Not everyone has the same path in life.
Some of you may have had to start over like I did or go to school a second time and now have OSAP loans to pay back.
Others may have divorced, lost money in the stock market or other investments, suffered job loss, fell ill or injured on the job and so on but you can’t let that stop you from achieving your financial goals.
You may have been given trust funds, paid-for homes, educations, or other perks that give you a financial kick-start and that’s OK too.
Earn It, Save It, Invest It, Build It
Remember what I said, “It’s not about how much money you make, it’s how you save it”.
The reason people accumulate wealth is that they know how to save or invest even if inherited or a lottery win.
The smallest improvements should mean big strides in working towards reaching your goals.
Sometimes we have to fail to learn and we’ve all been there.
Money can be evil for some people especially those who have a negative attitude towards their financial situation.
Be optimistic and little by little with determination you too should see improvements if you want that to happen.
Canadian Budget Binder Net Worth Updates 2020
Click the links below to read our net worth updates for the year 2020.
- January 2020 Net Worth Update
- February 2020 Net Worth Update
- March 2020 Net Worth Update
- April- Oops I forgot
- May 2020 Net Worth Update
- June 2020 Net Worth Update
- July 2020 Net Worth Update
- August 2020 Net Worth Update
- September 2020 Net Worth Update
- October 2020 Net Worth Update
That’s all for this month’s net worth update but please check in the middle of January 2020 to see how we made out in December 2020 with our financial portfolio.
Woohoo, the year is almost over thankfully.
~Mr.CBB
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